Broadway leads White Sox to win in first major league start

Friday

Sep 28, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2007 at 9:15 PM

Rookie right-hander Lance Broadway made his first major league start and allowed just two hits in six scoreless innings. He struck out eight and picked up his first major league win in the Sox’s most-lopsided victory of the season, 10-0 over the Royals at U.S. Cellular Field.

Nathaniel Whalen

If there’s been one positive to all the losing on the South Side, it’s that the White Sox have gotten a chance to see how their younger players can perform at the big-league level.

Josh Fields has shown he’s ready, Jerry Owens has impressed especially of late, and John Danks and Gavin Floyd have both been solid.

Well, it was Lance Broadway’s turn to audition on Thursday night and he looked every bit the part of a major leaguer.

The rookie right-hander made his first major league start and allowed just two hits in six scoreless innings. He struck out eight and picked up his first major league win in the Sox’s most-lopsided victory of the season, 10-0 over the Royals at U.S. Cellular Field.

“(Throwing a shutout) was great, but the ‘W’ is what I was focusing on,” said Broadway, still smelling from his traditional first major league win beer shower. “I wasn’t expecting to throw one. (Jon) Garland threw one (Wednesday), and it’s probably not going to happen again.”

Though the Sox are certainly trying to figure out what they have in the 15th overall pick of the 2005 draft and where he might fit into their future plans, Broadway didn’t want to think about what this start could mean in the larger scheme of things.

“I don’t even think about that stuff that much,” he said. “I have a hard enough time worrying about the things I can control. I’m going to try to leave that up to them. I’m going to do what I do, regardless.”

What he did was dominate a bad Royals lineup.

Broadway’s only real jam came after walking Ross Gload and allowing a single to Alex Gordon to lead off the second. The right-hander responded by striking out Jason Smith, John Buck and Joey Gathright in order to end the threat.

“I was mainly throwing a cut fastball that I just learned,” said Broadway, who hadn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 11. “It was the only thing I could consistently throw for strikes.”

After striking out the side in the second, he got two more strikeouts in the third, two more in the fourth and another in the sixth. He also benefited from a pair of double plays. His eight strikeouts were the most by a Sox pitcher in his first major league start since Ravelo Manzanillo struck out eight on Sept. 25, 1988.

“He was throwing a slider. When you are a rookie and are throwing a slider 3-and-2, that means you have confidence,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “He was throwing the ball really well over there. It was fun to watch.”

Paul Konerko gave the Sox all the runs they would need with his three-run homer in the first. It was his 30th of the year, giving him at least that many in four straight seasons.

Just for insurance, the Sox added another run off Billy Buckner (1-2) in the second and two more in the fourth. Luis Terrero’s bases-loaded, pinch-hit double highlighted the Sox’s four-run seventh that gave them 10 runs for the game.

Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks closed out the three-hitter, giving the Sox back-to-back shutouts for the first time since July 21 and 22, 2004, at Cleveland.